


The Ball of String

by Zhenya66



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-28
Updated: 2016-05-28
Packaged: 2018-07-10 17:09:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6997126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zhenya66/pseuds/Zhenya66
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The adoption of a stray cat leads to surprising discoveries. Discoveries Kenma wished he never made.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Ball of String

Tetsurou brought the cat a week ago. Truth be told, Kenma didn’t like animals. They took too much time and effort to be cared for and he knew cats needed double the attention their goldfishes needed. But ever after the fishes died, Tetsurou had been obsessed in finding another pet, stating that Kenma needed company in the days he wasn’t home. Kenma hadn’t bothered to tell him that he didn’t need company at all, on the contrary. But Tetsurou knew otherwise.

 The cat wasn’t one of those fancy breeds. It wasn’t even from a shelter. It was skinny and dirty and Kenma’s first reaction was to scrunch up his nose, as he watched the animal cower in Tetsurou’s hands as he toed off his wet shoes.

 “I couldn’t just leave it out in the rain.” Tetsurou explained, seeing Kenma’s expression of distaste. “Don’t glare at it! We’re keeping him!”

 “ _You’_ re keeping him.” Kenma coldly corrected, turning to walk back into their warm living room. “I told you I don’t want any pets.”

 “You’ll grow to love him.” Tetsurou insisted, cooing at the shivering animal, as he walked after Kenma into the living room. “Are you really that coldhearted?! Look at him. How do you imagine me leaving something like this out in the cold street?”

 “It probably has diseases.”

 “That’s why I’ll take him to the vet tomorrow! Quick, get me something to dry him up with. Poor thing…”

 “Get something your self.”

 Tetsurou threw Kenma a quick glare from the corner of his eye, but Kenma was too concentrated in the game he was currently playing to pay him any attention. That was the entire problem with him and pets. He couldn’t, and didn’t want to, pay anything any unnecessary attention. The presence of _fish_ bothered him. He didn’t even want to know what would happen when the cat grew up. No, Kenma already imagined it. He would say goodbye to his curtains and soft furniture and would never be able to sleep comfortably again. Not to mention that he would have to get dressed up immediately after taking a shower, because the cat hair would be everywhere. On the carpet, on the couch. The mere thought made him grimace.

 Tetsurou wasn’t bothered by the thought, since he spent most of his day at work and didn’t have to deal with the troubles of keeping a cat. He was ready to however. More than ready.

 By the end of the week the cat already had a name. It didn’t grow much, but it did get livelier and gathered enough courage to explore the apartment. It ventured around from dusk till dawn, never loosing its energy. It no longer ate only milk and bread, but moved on to solid foods. Another problem. Tetsurou wasn’t bothered by the fact he had to give endless amount of money to only feed the cat. On the contrary, he treated the animal as if it was the master of the house. Probably that was the whole effect the feline species had on humanity. The cat soon began taking all of Tetsurou’s attention and Kenma found him self feeling jealous. But that was absurd. Why would he feel jealous of a cat? A cat with the terribly sassy name Rintarou more ever? Nonsense.

 By the end of the second week of its stay, the cat began searching for Kenma’s attention as well. It sought touches and hugs, which only Tetsurou seemed able to give. But Kenma ran away from it and shooed it away, not appealed with the idea of getting cat hair all over himself and his clothes. The carpet and couch were already ruined. But the cat didn’t stop chasing him around, even when Tetsurou was home. It even seemed happy when Kenma raised his voice at it and pushed him away. It never looked sad. Everything Kenma did was like a game and that made him angrier.

 Everything changed one day and Kenma realized there was nothing accidental in life. Even the presence of Rintarou the stray cat in his home.

 The morning began as usual. Get out of bed, wash up, take a look at what Tetsurou had left in the fridge for breakfast. And, of course, try to run away from the cat. Its annoying seek of attention began as quickly as Tetsurou left for work. And of course, its next target would be Kenma. The more he tried to escape the insistent animal, the more it chased him, full of energy and dying to play, like he did with Tetsurou when he came home from work. But Kenma wasn’t him and had no desire to waste any energy on the cat.

 Around lunch however the animal got too restless and Kenma finally reached the limit of his patience. He wasn’t going to lock it in the closet, no. he stood up from the comfort of the couch and walked back to the room he shared with Tetsurou. Beside the bed was the cat’s toy box. Kenma found the presence of it laughable. The cat wasn’t a child. It didn’t need toys. But Tetsurou thought otherwise and in no time filled the box with all kinds of unnecessary things. It made Kenma wonder how exactly Tetsurou saw the cat. Did he see a normal feline, or a child in need of caring and spoiling? He quickly shook his head, getting rid of the thought and walking towards the box.

 As expected, the one thing Rintarou seemed to like best was the ball of yarn Tetsurou threw around for him in the evenings. Kenma wasn’t about to roll around the floor like Tetsurou, but he did take the soft ball, looking back at the cat, which stared at him with big round eyes, full of expectation. Kenma only frowned and threw the ball across the room, the cat chasing like lightning after it.

 Knowing that the animal would be distracted for more than a few minutes, Kenma went back to the couch, ready to finally beat his game, without being pestered by the annoying cat. And just as he had expected, it really did leave him alone, too occupied in rolling around with the yarn on the floor of the hall.

 Kenma didn’t know how much time passed, but it couldn’t have been much. He had almost managed to win the last level of his game when the cat began hissing and mewing in distress, so loudly it almost coughed. Kenma tried to ignore the noise, but when it didn’t cease, he paused his game and stood up from the couch, this time ready to really lock the animal in the dark closet if it meant shutting it up. Much to his surprise, the closet turned out to be the reason the cat was in distress in the first place.

 The door was wide open, while Rintarou hissed at the inside of the closet from the other end of the hall. The ball of yarn disappeared somewhere inside, leaving only a trail of white behind its self. The cat or yarn didn’t bother Kenma at all, what bothered him was the opened door of the closet. A few minutes ago he was sure it had been closed. Ever since Rintarou grew he had picked up the habit of opening doors. He jumped from tables or any other hard surface he could climb on and with odd agility press down on the door handles as he fell down on the floor, resulting in an open door, a frustrated Kenma and an oddly fascinated Tetsurou. Ever since the cat began it odd behavior, Kenma made sure to at least lock the door to the closet, so it wouldn’t cause havoc inside. But now the door was wide open, the key, which was normally lodged in the keyhole on the outside of the door, now lay on the carpet near the cat. Kenma didn’t have any warm feelings towards it, but he wouldn’t accuse it of opening the door. It was impossible, even for him.

 Kenma frowned and looked at the closet. The ball of yarn disappeared somewhere inside, but even thought the closet its self wasn’t large or deep, Kenma could see it. It sunk somewhere among dark shadows and spider webs. Kenma quickly realized that Rinatarou was too scared to get the yarn back, but was frustrated at its disappearance. Nothing more than simple cat behavior. Even thought it couldn’t explain the opened door.

 Kenma frowned again, this time at the hissing animal, before walking towards the closet. The ball of yarn had done a good job in silencing the cat for a good amount of time and if it could do it again, Kenma would be thankful. He stepped into the closed and knelt down to grab the visible end of the string, possibly related to what was left of the ball inside the closet. Kenma took it between his fingers and pulled. The string withdrew smoothly, but Kenma couldn’t see where it went. Somewhere behind a few boxes, but it felt as if the back wall of the closet had disappeared, replaced by shadows and a simple black canvas.

 Kenma continued to pull, until he felt something from the back of the closet pull back. The pull was sharp, like in a game of tug-a-war. It made Kenma’s lax hand shoot out, as he tried to hold onto his end of the thread. His eyes widened in amazement and he pulled gently on the thread again, this time finding resistance. There definitely had to be something behind the shadows which held the other end of the thread, just like Kenma. The thought made him shiver.

 Behind him, Rintarou continued to spit and hiss and made the situation a lot more anxious.

 Angry at the way things were turning, no possible rational explanation coming to Kenma’s mind, he once again pulled. The force from the other end pulled as well. This time it was angrier, fiercer. It mad Kenma stumble foreword, falling onto his knees in the middle of the boxes. He looked up startled, eyes following the thread in his hand down to where it disappeared.

 This was absurd, Kenma thought, as he reached to the other visible end of the thread. As he had secretly expected, his fingers sink into somewhere dark. Somewhere beyond the closet. Kenma feels the thread in his hand and slowly, cautiously, crawls after it, never once loosing its lead. Soon he disappears into complete darkness, he can barely see the outlines of his hands and the white thread in them, but he can hear Rintarou mewling somewhere behind him, outside of the closet.

 Kenma continues to crawl, pulling gently on the thread to test if the thing (because there was no way it was a human) which pulled him in was still there. Sighing softly, Kenma found out there was no resistance anymore. The thread easily slid over into his hands, but Kenma couldn’t reach its end, no matter how much he crawled into the mysterious darkness. A sudden thought took over him. What if he couldn’t go back? What if the portal he had went through to reach this world of darkness and shadow was forever closed now, when he had went through the threshold? He could still hear Rintarou hiss and mewl, but the sound was a lot more muffled now. Like they were miles apart.

 Suddenly afraid of the possibility of being locked into the darkness forever, Kenma quickly begins to crawl backwards, towards the closet. The thread still acts as his lead, but suddenly, Kenma’s knees hit something. He shrieks and tries to stand up in the confusing nothingness, but his head hits something solid above. The thing which he had knocked over rattles in the darkness.

 Kenma is now close to tears. His hands shoot up to cover his throbbing head, white thread slipping up from between his fingers. Kenma’s heart races. He tries to find it, fingers gripping around, but catching nothing. He feels hot breath on his neck and shrieks again, crawling as quickly as he can away from the nasty, wet breath. His knees and hands move through more rattling and shaking objects, but Kenma doesn’t even care anymore. He shuts his eyes tightly, wishing for the nightmare he got him self into to end.

 Suddenly, Kenma feels his forehead push against something solid. His hands shoot up in panic and push against the thing in his way. But he pushes with too much force, while only a little is really needed to push away the little, square doors in front of him. Before he knows it, Kenma is tumbling out of one of the kitchen cabinets, hands and chin hitting the cold tiles on the floor as he falls. Rintarou is mewing in distress again, circling Kenma and nudging his hands with his wet nose.

 Kenma stands up on his knees and looks back at the cabinet. The plates and bowls inside are scattered around, some of them broken. The rattling noise Kenma heard inside the darkness must have come from the falling of copper trays. The darkness in the back of the cabinet is still there and a little piece of thread sticks out of it like the tail of a mouse. With shivering fingers, Kenma reaches out and takes it into his hand. He pulls gently and the thread slips out of the darkness.

 From a whole ball of yarn, the only thing left is only a short piece, no longer than Kenma’s forearm.

 Tetsurou doesn’t learn about what happened that day. He comes home the same night and his eyes almost widen in surprise as he sees Kenma lying on the couch, Rintarou tucked securely in his arms. Kenma can’t exactly explain the change of heart towards the cat without mentioning the mysterious darkness in the back of their closet and kitchen cabinet. But the truth is that ever since that day, Kenma can’t help but feel watched and observed. No matter where he is or what he does, he feels something inside of the apartment with him. Rintarou feels it as well and Kenma feels close to the cat now that they share the same feeling of fear and paranoia.

 Kenma never checked to see if the darkness was still hiding in his closet, but knows that something is definitely there. _Was_ there. Now Kenma fears that he let it out of its dark confines and the thought doesn’t let him rest, as he lies on his couch most days, petting the purring stray cat in his arms.

**Author's Note:**

> Just something I thought of last night. It isn't long, I wrote it for about two hours. Still I hope you like it!


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